We were pleased to see and welcome Mark Youngman, in his new role as ‘Development Manager – Wales’ for First Great Western, who dropped in and contributed to discussions.
There were some meaty subjects on the agenda which generated a number of great ideas and a strong feeling that we are making real progress.
- Publicity Banner – We now have approval from Monmouthshire County Council to display the banner on the Community Centre site fence (subject to the approval of Magor with Undy Community Council and Magor/Undy Sports and Leisure Association (MUSLA). Indications are, from informal communications with the council and MUSLA, that this shouldn’t be a problem. So keep an eye out for its reappearance very soon!
- Electrification of the South Wales mainline – Having gained some very positive information recently (from Network Rail see – Monmouth Network Rail presentation Sept 2014 and the Welsh Government’s Metro Project, Impact Study – extract) concerning the electrification of the main line – in particular the ‘relief lines’ – we have been greatly encouraged that a new station is a big step nearer. However we need to understand the capacity and capability of those ‘relief lines’ to allow us to make viable proposals. We believe that information is ‘out there’ so we agreed to keep digging!
- Opinion survey results – As part of our 2014/15 planned objectives, we aimed to establish firmly how aware the community was of our campaign and how much support we have. Our target was at least ‘85% awareness and support’ by September, so we carried out a mini survey in and around Magor and Undy recently which has given us a more than encouraging picture. We have found there is almost 100% support for a new station and about 90% said they would definitely use it. You can see the summary report by clicking here
- Community Centre – Over the last month or so we have been trying to build our relationship with MUSLA. The association has been working hard over many years to develop the site on Main Road Undy with sports and leisure facilities but have found it difficult in these austere times to make significant progress. We fully support MUSLA’s aims and believe that by working together we will be more successful in gaining support and funding to deliver both a community station and the much needed community leisure facilities. Peter Wilson and other group members will be aiming to develop the relationship into an active collaboration over coming months.
